Calculating Acceleration of a Car
What is the magnitude of the car's acceleration?
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.
The acceleration of the car with an initial velocity of 16 m/s is 4 m/s².
Explaining the Calculation of Acceleration
Acceleration is a fundamental concept in physics that measures how quickly an object's velocity changes over time. In this scenario, we are calculating the acceleration of a car that accelerates uniformly from an initial velocity of 16 m/s to a final velocity of 20 m/s over a distance of 36 meters.
To calculate the acceleration of the car, we can use the following formula:
v² = u² + 2as ............ Equation 1
Where:
- v = Final velocity = 20 m/s
- u = Initial velocity = 16 m/s
- s = Distance = 36 m
- a = Acceleration = ?
By substituting the given values into Equation 1, we can solve for the acceleration (a):
20² = 16² + 2a(36)
400 = 256 + 72a
72a = 144
a = 144/36 = 4 m/s²
Therefore, the magnitude of the car's acceleration is 4 m/s².